What’s your digital DNA?

Manila, Philippines – According to a new global study from MasterCard, the answer is, yes. The Digital Sharing and Trust Project shows that consumers actually shed their “real-world” identities when they go online to assume “digital personas” that better reflect how they feel, what actions they take around their personal information and how much value they place on their own data. These five personas – Open Sharers, Simply Interactors, Solely Shoppers, Passive Users and Proactive Protectors—are spread evenly throughout the global population and ignore any regional or demographic boundaries.

“Nearly 2.5 billion people around the globe use the Internet every day,” said Theodore Iacobuzio, Vice President of MasterCard’s Global Insights group, which produced the study. “This research shows that regardless of who they are and where they live, they all share something in common when it comes to how they act and behave online –these five unique global personality types. It also shows us that when consumers go online, characteristics such as age, gender or nationality become secondary and they instead assume a sense of what we refer to as ‘social citizenship’.”

Though consumers are increasingly savvy in managing their online identity, the consumer research reveals there is a clear hierarchy in the kind of information they are willing to share, and there are certain types of organizations they trust most with their data. Some of the key findings about each online persona group are highlighted on the image.

Consumers who are curious to find out their online personas can take a brief quiz to find out.